- Midrange decks used to not be that big, believe it or not, but are now one of the biggest decks in Standard. Midrange decks excel in the middle game where they play most of their spells. These decks are usually creature-based decks that attrition you out and kill you with medium-sized creatures like Baneslayer Angel, Siege Rhino, Wingmate Roc, or Spiritmonger.

- Tempo decks kill you with small creatures and pack permission as well. You know these as Blue / Black Faeries, Delver decks, or Merfolk.

These are the decks that stand out for us, however today I will be talking about an archetype that wizards has tried to kill or no longer supports because it's not “fun” for the game: prison decks. The goal of these decks is to literally stop you from playing Magic. They can lock you out of spells, attacking, or deny you mana. We have one in Modern in Lantern Control.

In the old days we had them in Stasis, Smokestacks, and Winter Orb / Icy Manipulator. Today I'm going to cover a new list I came across, Black Stax. I got this list from the same person who won a Grand Prix with Lantern Control, Zac Elsik. I'd like to talk about this deck and how it functions then evaluate the cards in the deck.

Before we dive into the deck I just want to say Zac didn't create the deck but got the idea from someone on Facebook. We tried to get his name but have failed. His Facebook user name is German Bustanmante.

Ophiomancer: A great generator for our sacrifice outlets. Keep in mind this thing triggers on each upkeep. So you'll get a snake on your opponent's upkeep as well if you don't already control one. What's great about Ophiomancer is, against some decks, he'll just shut them down on his own unless they can deal with him right away. Tarmogoyf, Gurmag Angler, and even Batterskull's Germ will not get past Deathtouch snakes.

Toxic Deluge: A three-mana sweeper. Fantastic against all the fair decks. Three mana to basically have a Perish for all creatures. What more could you ask for? Also gets around protection, so take that True-Name Nemesis.

Ensnaring Bridge: Many decks can't get past this card in game one. Games two and three they still won't be able to get past it unless they draw their sideboard cards. For example this card is fantastic against any creature-based decks, but it's also very good against some combo decks like Lands or Sneak and Show.

Trinisphere: This card slows the game down tremendously which is great for you. You have sol lands so it's pretty easy to not get yourself locked out to this card. Trinisphere can and will win you games against storm decks too. Very hard to storm off when all your spells cost at least three mana.

Braids, Cabal Minion: Braids is basically a Smokestack on legs. She's easer to kill than Smokestacks but she can also attack for damage unlike Smokestack. If you have multiple don't be afraid to just jam her out there and sacrifice her on your upkeep then play a new one. Since she's a legend you can't have multiples of her out.

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Smokestack: Whenever you play this card your opponent will read it and then get really scared. You can't Abrupt Decay this bad boy and if it triggers two or three times, you're favored to win. The first turn you can stack the triggers so that you don't sacrifice any permanents but your opponents will. You can continue to do this each turn so your opponent is always sacrificing one more permanent before you do.

Trading Post: A wacky card that can gain you some much needed life if we've taken too much damage from Ancient Tomb. It can make chump blockers and/or give you a sacrifice outlet. It can also regrow a Phyrexian Revoker or an artifact that has been countered earlier. The last ability I rarely used but you can get a Smokestack pretty high then sacrifice it at the end of your opponent's turn to draw a card and so you won't have to sacrifice any permanents on your upkeep.

Thorn of Amethyst: Another card to have against storm decks or any decks with little-to-no creatures. We use this over Sphere of Resistance since we play creatures and would rather not have to pay an additional one mana for them. Storm decks, or even Show and Tell decks, is where this card shines!

It's always sweet to see a new deck in Legacy, especially a prison deck. These decks are few and far between. Now I want to warn that this deck isn't fully tuned, however it's a fantastic starting place. If you like these types of strategies or just want to try something new in Legacy, give this a go!

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